DOE & US Navy Send Off Hi-Tech Nuclear Railcar for Testing

The Rail Escort Vehicle is ready for its final phase of testing.

Source : Department of Energy

January 17, 2022

Author : Patty Rodriguez

The Rail Escort Vehicle, or REV, was designed to transport security personnel accompanying the shipment of spent nuclear fuel, or SNF, as well as high-level radioactive waste.

The Department of Energy defines SNF as “Fuel that has been withdrawn from a nuclear reactor following irradiation.”

According to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission,  "High-level radioactive waste primarily is uranium fuel that has been used in a nuclear power reactor and is "spent," or no longer efficient in producing electricity. Spent fuel is thermally hot as well as highly radioactive and requires remote handling and shielding."

“High-level wastes are hazardous because they produce fatal radiation doses during short periods of direct exposure,” the agency says.

The new REV railcar is now on its way from Oregon to a location near Pueblo, Colorado for multiple-car testing. The REV is the “the last piece needed” to complete the railcar system DOE needs to transport SNF to storage and disposal facilities across the United States.

“While the new REV provides a comfortable living and working environment for the security personnel onboard, it is no ordinary caboose,” DOE said in a recent press release. That’s because it is equipped with surveillance cameras and communications equipment to protect the sensitive SNF material.

The project was started by the US Navy’s Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (NNPP) to replace its “aging fleet of escort vehicles.” DOE and NNPP worked together to develop the new railcar design, which DOE boasts “meets” the Association of American Railroads’ “highest standard for railcars.”

“The REV is the last piece of the puzzle in completing a railcar system to safely transport the nation’s spent nuclear fuel,” Patrick Schwab, Atlas project manager for DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy, said. “This project is a prime example of the great collaboration between DOE and the Navy and will further serve the nation’s naval nuclear propulsion program, as well as our civilian reactors which currently supply more than half of our nation’s clean energy.”

DOE put forward more than $10 million for the design and fabrication of the REV. Vigor Works LLC built the railcar in Portland where it tested electrical and plumbing systems. Additionally, The USDOT’s Transportation Technology Center conducted a single-car performance test on an earlier prototype.

The REV is expected to reach the test site in late February where it will connect to Atlas, a 12-axle railcar also developed by DOE, as well as buffer railcars to become a complete train. Then there will be an additional two years of multiple-car testing. DOE hopes to begin operations in early 2024.

Category : Railroads

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